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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

With the sounds of the Space Rock genre, Canterbury, and
Jazz Fusion, a band like Gong can really take you up into the Flying Teapot’s
and go into a world of the Pot Head Pixies and getting ready into the room in
an Oily Way beat. Alongside Daevid Allen, he has been there since day one when
Gong formed 46 years ago in France. That and their new album, I See You, released this year which is a
follow up to their 2009 album, 2032, Gong
is still getting back into the roots of their classic-era of the 1970s.

And listening to the album, I almost cried because it is
almost as if they have now come in full circle and it is now complete. His
space cadets that are on the Flying Teapot that is ready for take-off are; Kavus
Torabi (Knifeworld/Guapo/Cardiacs) on Guitar, Orlando Allen on Drums, Dave Strut
on Bass, Fabio Golfetti on Guitar, and Ian East on wind instruments. And not to
mention Gilli Smyth who does the whispering on the vocals as a guest as well to
lend Allen a helping hand and who has been there since day one.

Gilli’s voice of “Everywhere…..”
will get listeners blown away of that voice as the swirling voyages jam
between the essence of Prog and Funk combined into one, make it an excellent
adventure into our solar systems with You
See Me. Daevid Allen’s dystopian poem, This
Revolution, is his homage to Gil Scott-Heron, Hunter S. Thompson, and The
Last Poets as the music descends into the darker side of the modern world with
spooky vocalizations and Floyd-sque guitar sounds resembling the Meddle-era.

Allen describes almost like speaking through the screens
like an announcement about what has been going down in the corrupt modern world
with; Capitalism, Politics, and MTV and you could tell that he is spot on
throughout the poetry. Then, Gong goes into a doomy jazzy bass line done by
Strut along with the metallic flute going through a fuzz tone along with the
guitars going into a Crimson-like Fripp-sque vibe and Orland doing a styling of
Elvin Jones and Billy Cobham on the drums and not to mention, the Trip-Hop
psychedelic vibes on the ominous rhythm beat with When God Shakes Hands with the Devil.

Elsewhere on The
Eternal Wheel Spins, it is Gong’s tribute and reminiscent to Space Rock
heroes Hawkwind while the 10-minute epic, Thank
You is a touching yet almost farewell piece. It starts off for the first
three minutes as a bluesy psychedelic guitar jam session before it goes into a
spaced out ultimate trip in a different universe and then it ascends to head
back to Planet Gong as Daevid is giving his message to thank not just the music,
but for the fans who have been there with him for the travel, adventure, the
memories, and of course the music.

The last track, Shakti
Yoni & Dingo Virgin is back to the sounds of the early Pink Floyd again
and it’s the sliding guitar and Gilli Smyth’s soothing vocalizations that set
the tone of the ambient/atmospheric adventure back home. Listening to this
track, it is so beautiful and very touching at times and it feels like it was
left off the sessions during the Ummagumma-era
and it’s a perfect melodic and emotional way to close the album off.

I See You is one of Gong's touching and wonderful return and album I've listened to. And after listening about four times of Gong's return, it shows that they have show no sign of stopping and the Pot Head Pixies themselves have done an amazing job bringing the music waiting to see where the Flying Teapot would take them next into another adventure for them.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Music is always been there for me when I was a kid that has
been my friend from day one from the sounds of The Beatles and Alice Cooper. But the sounds of Progressive Music, is for me, one of my favorite genres that has always kept in
my pocket since the late '90s when I was in Junior High, into my High School years and into Junior College from 2005 to 2014. The genre for me, is always been there for me whether I was stressed, happy, and sad, the music has always been my best friend to make me feel better. And there’s ideas and brainstorming concepts that bands and artists
would come up with to tell stories. Whether it's fantasy, melodic beauty, science-fiction, or
dystopian tales, it fits right in to the core of Progressive Rock. Now one of the bands this year that completely took me by
surprise is a group from Belgium that started out as a project by William
Beckers and Frank Van Bogaert that released two albums from 2010 to 2012 and
this year they released their follow up album called, Godspeed. They were signed by Esoteric Antenna that is home to
bands and artists like; Matt Stevens, The Reasoning, Panic Room, Sanguine Hum,
and Tin Spirits to name a few this year. And while this is my introduction to the band’s music, this
is one of the most touching and melodic progressive rock albums I have listened
to from beginning, middle, and right into the very end. And not to mention six
centerpieces throughout the album that you might want to take note of. The
opening 10-minute title track, does remind me of the Duke-era of Genesis and Roger Hodgson’s In The Eye of the Storm-era with the ‘80s sound that makes you feel
you are inside a train going from Victoria Station to Paddington thanks to the
keyboard sounds of Beckers, drumming from Weymare, and the vocals from Bogaert
along with the background vocals, gives it a wonderful journey of a lifetime. Just a Nightmare begins
with an atmospheric synth, gentle piano, roaring guitar chords, organ, fingerpicking
acoustic guitar, and Bogaert singing about the devastation and living now in
the post-apocalyptic world and figuring out how to survive this nightmarish
land. The rhythm is very up tempo and Nick Beggs’ (Steven Wilson, Kajagoogoo)
Bass, sets the vibe on what the character is going through. Plus, the beats
really capture the scenery that is about 140 beats per minute as the Sax goes
into a jazzy feel that resembles the ‘70s-era of Pink Floyd. Fish on Friday also have a softer side also. She Colours the Rainbow which is
inspired by the painting by Anne-Catherine de Froidmont which is in the booklet,
has this mourning piano ballad of saying goodbye to a loved one who is in a
coma and giving the loved one a final farewell before going into a powerful
beat while Ghost Song carries the
affinity and knowing that the listener is knowing that even though its
difficult hard to say goodbye, the memories and love carry inside us in our
hearts and pockets forever into eternity.

Callin’ Planet Home is
a driven yet ascending progressive-rock track into the skies featuring some
flute, guitar, thumping drums and bass with some wonderful grooves that has
this symphonic section on setting the coordinates to earth. Nick is just
amazing on his Bass and the Flute by Theo Travis, captures the essence of Mel
Collins and Marty’s sliding guitar just grabs you and seeing where he would go
to next as it ends into a wonderful groove as Beckers and Bogaert give Marty
and Theo a chance to shine.

Radio has this
remembering of going back in time and listening to Radio Caroline at the time
on what the time period to be with your friends, smoke weed, and enjoying the
songs that were on during the flashback and then growing up, you almost forgot
about them as you live regular normal lives. The lukewarm Tick Tock, has some excellent harmonies along with the clock making
the noises filled with guitar structures, symphonic strings, and vocalizations
both in front and background as well, makes it a perfect ballad that Fish on
Friday could maybe perform it as a fan favorite sometime later on in their
career.

The album itself has a AOR sound (Album-Orientated Rock)
vibe that completely took me by surprise and after listening about five times
of Godspeed, I found myself being
inside the world of both Beckers and Bogaert that have the touch the ‘80s pop
and ‘70s Progressive influence throw in, they have done a great job on their
research on their roots and inspirations. It is a symphonic-prog-pop arrangement
that has taken me to higher ranks over on Godspeed. I really had a blast enjoying it and Mark & Vicky Powell again, have scored
a home run for Fish on Friday. So if you the pop, symphonic, and prog touches, go ahead and
check out the beautiful and harmonious wonder of Fish on Friday.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

This 2-CD/DVD set from the
good people at Esoteric Recordings released this year, contains the BBC Sessions that Premiata
Forneria Marconi did from 1974 to 1976 at the time they were promoting The World Became the World, Cook, and Chocolate Kings. On the DVD, it includes
three performances that the band did on the Old Grey Whistle Test hosted by "Whispering" Bob Harris that includes a promo film by their label Manticore and three live performances that is
a real gem for fans to really sink into the realms of the Italian Prog band
showing their heart and the instruments to give it 100 percent.

On the 2-CD set, the band
recorded two performances at the BBC Paris Theatre which was known as Paris studios located at the Lower Regent Street in London, was hosted by Pete Drummond. Who also was a presenter for John Peel’s Top Gear, Sight and Sound in Concert,
Rock Goes to College, and Sounds of the Seventies. Listening to the CDs, you
could almost close your eyes and imagine yourself being at those shows and just being prepared to be at a concert you will never forget.

The first disc was recorded
on May 21, 1975 on Radio One as Drummond’s introduction and the audience
applauding as PFM goes straight into a thunderous version of Celebration to kick things off as the
chugging guitar by Franco Mussida, intense drumming, bass, and synths done by
Franz Di Cioccio, Patrick Dijvas, and Flavio Premoli to get ready for an
exciting adventure. And then going into the beautiful touches of Jazz Fusion as
Premoli’s electric keyboards sets the lushful surroundings of the genre mixed
in with classical boundaries a-la Mahavishnu Orchestra’s A Lotus of Irish Streams that carries a resemblance on Dove…Quando.

Not to mention the sounds of
Medieval-Renaissance up-tempo waltz and the driven beats on Four Holes in the Ground featuring
amazing flute and violin playing by Mauro Pagani and its almost like they are
having a blast as Premoli sings to lend support. The sessions are like opening
a treasure chest and just being touched on how much wonder to discover how the
band were getting recognition thanks to support from Greg Lake and the
Manticore label.

And who would never forget
Mussida’s guitar playing on Alta Loma 5
‘till 9. He is going through a lot of improvisations and just nailing the
solos in the styles of John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp, and Frank Zappa at times.
The band is going into taking turns on which solo is the best, but they are all
winners as Premoli goes into the reminiscent of Darryl Way as the band go into
an homage of Vivaldi before having a sense of humor of Rossini’s William Tell Overture.

On the second disc, they
came back for another session on April 15, 1976. They were promoting at the
time, their international success with Chocolate
Kings featuring Acqua Fragile’s Bernardo Lanzetti who would join the group,
and his voice resembled at times Genesis’ Peter Gabriel and Roger Chapman of
Family and it was for me, the last real PFM album. The band moved into the Classical
into the Jazz Fusion sounds that at times resemble French-Prog group, Atoll at
times, but you could tell they are having a blast on the soothing turned
adventurous beauty with Paper Charms.

However on Out on the Roundabout, PFM goes into the
laid-back grooves and having the different signatures of the time changes that
would be a resemblance and homage to Gentle Giant as getting into the swirling
beats thanks to Di Cioccio, Mussida and Premoli creating a driven beat on their
instruments that carries the Fusion sounds like a race car going 125 miles per
hour as Lanzetti’s voice joins in to make it to the finish line.

Then on the title track its
begins with a fanfare introduction thanks to Flavio’s organ and synth and it’s
a foot-stomping yet almost sing-along song with the line “When I was born they came to free us/to heal our battle wounds/with
photographs of big fat mama/the chocolate kings arrived!” It’s very catchy
on this live edition and I could imagine the audience just being in awe and
blown away of the band’s giving the electrical juice and energy of their powers
to give them a chance of a lifetime not to mention the seguing into the
eruptive version of the reprise on Alta
Loma 5 ‘Till 9.

On the 14-page booklet,
there are pictures of the band including one of the Queen of England visiting
them and the liner notes done by Mark Powell who helped adapted notes that were
written by the late Ernesto De Pascale, is a wonderful history of the band and
their BBC performances of PFM at their peak and how much they are one of the
legacy of the Rock Progresivo Italiano scene of the ‘70s.

And it’s a real treat
discovering both the two CDs and the DVD, showing how much PFM were ahead of
their time and often overlooked in the Progressive genre. This is a
recommendation for anyone who wants to sink into more into their music, the Photos
of Ghosts, the Celebration and the Worlds becoming the Worlds of Premiata
Forneria Marconi.

This 2-CD set marks the 40th anniversary of
Supertramp’s third and breakthrough album released in 1974, Crime of the Century. The band at the
time was in limbo after the first two albums lacked in record sales and
disbanded for two days. But they decided to reform again and give it one last
chance and this time it was the right moment that Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
wrote a couple of material that would later be a success. And adding Bassist
Dougie Thomson, Drummer Bob Siebenberg, and from the Alan Bown set, saxophonist
John Helliwell, knowing that it was going to be something large and amazing was
about to happen.

And once Ken Scott, who worked with Pink Floyd, Lou Reed,
The Beatles, and David Bowie as a Producer and an engineer, was brought on
board to work on the album, it was a perfect combination. With Davies and
Hodgson as songwriters, it was a combination of Lennon and McCartney but they worked
separately to write lyrics until their partnership was intense in 1983 when
Roger left to pursue a solo career after the release of Famous Last Words. Originally released in September of 1974, Crime of the Century is a masterful gem that reached the top 40 in the States and
number 4 in the UK and was a successfully well in Canada, it showed the band what they were going to do and the
direction they were about to embark on in the classic-era.

Opener, School begins
with a haunting yet alarming harmonica introduction by Rick to give it a
dystopian vibe on the questions on why we have to obey the golden rules and the
ideas on the education system as Roger sings about how the students don’t know
why we go and obeying the teacher’s strict golden rules and not knowing the
term of right and wrong; “Maybe I’m
mistaken expecting you to fight/or maybe I’m just crazy/I don’t know wrong from
right/But while I’m still living/I’ve just got this to say/it’s always up to
you.”

Then it segues into the Harder-Funk Rock with a touch of
soul of Davies Bloody Well Right. Along
with Roger’s crunchy wah-wah guitar solo and hard rock chords it gives it the idea
on how we complain on how the system and corruption is always messing everyone
up, just write everything down on a piece of paper and you are absolutely right
about everything and just keep your mouth shut. Hodgson’s Hide In Your Shell is an emotional cry for help dealing with
depressionand trying to reach for
someone who are in dire needs who are in isolation and locked up and are trying
to break through to escape that prison by looking for someone to care and love.

Asylum which
carries the same theme begins with the line “Jimmy Creem was keen/his brain was always winnin’/I can’t keep tabs on
mine/it’s really quite a joke.” It
has the ominous and haunting vibes with the symphonic touches from the string
quartet and tubular bells of someone going insane and Rick just nails it on his
vocals and Roger as the voice inside the character’s head and it just fits well
because it shows that someone going into a mental breakdown, they are dying
inside.

Then we get into the Wurlitzer electric piano introduction
of the riff that has an uplifting rise on Dreamer.
And not to mention the bass lines by Dougie, laid-back drumming from
Siebenberg, and tuned water glasses by Helliwell, it captures the essence of
escaping the world of the reality, and into their dream world fantasy to escape
the modern days they are living in and the toy piano used for the closing. The
7-minute epic, Rudy is a real treat.

It begins with a jazzy introduction for the first minute and
thirty-three seconds between Rick’s Piano and Bob’s drumming and then it goes
into a fast-driven beat as we are on the train from Paddington station into
different areas in England thanks to the chugging guitar sounds that makes it
perfect as the harmonies between Roger and Rick’s vocals as the speed increases
for a mid-paced touch thanks to the strings and then calms down as it reaches
the station as Rick sings the last lines “Now
he’s just come out the movie/numb of all the pain/Sad but in a while he’ll soon
be back on his train.”

The title If Everyone
Was Listening is inspired by Shakespeare (All the world’s a stage and we
are merely players) with a ballad and the deal of self-destruction on what has
happened if we keep doing what we are doing, it is about to crumble very soon
and there’s no coming back to escape it. The Piano shows the atmosphere as the
vocalization and Roger deals with how we have succeeded and now everything has
to be right before it falls to pieces; “For
we dreamed a lot/And we schemed a lot/And we tried to sing of love before the
stage fall apart.”

The closing title track is where everything comes as one.
From the gentle turned nightmarish views on the world gone wrong by raping the
universe and gone from bad to worse and seeing who the real person is behind
the mask and revealing true evil. The
band go into the instrumental passage that is dark, sinister, and destructive
that mankind is taking over and ripping everything into pieces and the
orchestral touches and the wailing sax along with the outro harmonica gives it
a final fade out.

The second disc is a live recording at the Hammersmith Odeon
on March 9, 1975 at the time band they were on tour promoting the album along
with upcoming material for Crisis? What
Crisis? There is some amazing
dazzling versions of Hide In Your Shell,
Bloody Well Right, Just a Normal Day, Lady, and John Helliwell taking over
vocals for a sense of humor of his take of Perry Como’s 1949 classic, A – You’re Adorable. The 22-page booklet
features photos, liner notes with interviews of the band by MOJO’s editor-in-chief
Phil Alexander, and the lyrics as well.

Mental Illness, Society, and Corruption, it’s all right here
on their third album and it shows the band at their finest achievement. And the
breakthrough for Supertramp, was only the beginning for them.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Cailyn Lloyd is one of the
most gifted virtuoso guitarist I've ever listened to. Since hearing her work on
Friday Night Progressive when I was in Houston Community College working on my Jazz Studies back
in 2012 and being completely blown away of her debut album, Four Pieces which was her take of
classical composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dvorak, Barber, and touches of
Chopin and Schubert thrown in like a bird reading to flap their wings and fly
across the grand canyon. She is back with a follow up album called, Voyager.

It’s a concept album that
Cailyn was inspired by Gustav Holst’s Planets suite and the portraits of the
voyager would fit right in to the sounds of symphonic and orchestral touches of
the vision that Cailyn herself would bring to the table of the extended
missions the program would embark on into outer space with. She brought along
Deryn Cullen on Cello, Neil Holloman on Drums, Nancy Rumbel on English Horn,
and the Studiopros of Shelby to add the textures of the atmosphere.

And not to mention Cailyn’s five
centerpieces to make you put on your helmet for the adventure of a lifetime you
will never forget. The opening title track sounds like an overture as the
classical rock uplifting sounds and the bluesy guitar touches in the realms of
Gilmour that she brings into, gives it a warmth introduction.

Drums, voices, bass, and
synths give it that intense rhythm for liftoff. And it has this ambient beauty
of the stars and soaring surroundings to give the rocket a chance to fly into
the space touches. Titan has some
excellent classical guitar touches along with synths and voices filling in the
void and Cailyn going into the styles of Steve Vai as Holloman goes into some
intense drumming. There is a mellow and fast tempo beat that is unexpected for
her to create the tension on to slow down and get up into the rhythm on where
the changes would go to next. Io has
this late ‘70s/early ‘80s electronic heavy rock sound that almost feels as if
it she was doing the score for William Friedkin’s Sorcerer with an homage to Agitation Free’s 2nd-era for the haunting score before getting into the
blistering thunderous beat to give the closing finale of the surrealism. The
booming guitar chords and lines along with the keyboards playing the melody has
a harder symphonic metallic touch with Ariel,
gives it a real unexpected wake-up call as if you can imagine what the
future will be for us and what is to come. But Cailyn gives the fanfare
like introduction that is a powerful way to start things off with Miranda, the smallest planet of Uranus
five round satellites.With a metal
feel before going into the Piano concerto that has a Rachmaninoff-sque vibe, It
goes back into the styles of Steve Hackett meets Alex Lifeson touches as a homage thrown in that
gives it a real kick throughout the entire composition that is unexpected and
make you want to take note on what Cailyn would do next. This is a wonderful follow
up and a great concept album that I really enjoyed listening to. Cailyn Lloyd has done an amazing job on the idea on the space program and Holst's music going into different
planets with a classical, hard rock, and orchestral-electronic surroundings
that is on here. Just imagine yourself going into a ship and journey into the
realms of the planets and beyond the infinite because it is an adventure of Cailyn's music that will you take into our solar system of the planets you will explore from beginning, middle, and end.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Esoteric Antenna have always
released some amazing new bands and artists that are part of the label
including; Matt Stevens, The Reasoning, Panic Room, Sanguine Hum, Hi Fiction
Science, and now part of the Esoteric Antenna family is a group
that have been around since forming nine years ago in Bristol called Schnauser.
The band have this wonderful combination of Canterbury Prog, Psychedelic Pop,
and ‘60s touches of the Baroque sounds of the Beach Boys thrown in.

The band released four
albums and two EPs that were self-released and on labels including; Pink
Hedgehog, Bitter Buttons, and Fruits De Mer. This year, they’ve released their
fifth album called, Protein for Everyone.
It shows the bands sense of humor and whimsical touches thrown in and they have
done a spectacular job with this. The band considers; Alan Strawbridge on
Guitar/Vocals, Duncan Gammon on Keyboards/Vocals, Holly McIntosh on
Bass/Vocals, and Jasper Williams on Drums.

Opener, Grey or Blue begins with a fuzz tone bass riff, drums, guitar, and
keyboards go into a joyful mood and having the sound of a VOX organ go into the
uplifting melody, is very powerful as Schnauser is having a blast and good time
getting in a good mood before going into a laid-back Beatlesque touch as it
goes into the soaring signature. But Duncan goes into his improvisation on the
organ with the fuzz sound resembling the tribute to Mike Ratledge and into the
sound of the Soft Machine. And it is a great way to start the album off.

The waltz ¾ time signature
of the dystopian title track, has a carousel/merry-go-round touch, has the
Baroque Pop and Syd Barrett elements thrown in with the exchange between the
members. It almost reminded me as if Schnauser had written this in the ‘70s for
the science-fiction film, Soylent Green as
the lyrics deal with selling protein for the plot twist in the lyrics that will
take you by surprise that they are dealing with issues on what’s going on in
the world today.

National Grid is very much of a spacey psych adventure in the world on social media
and not to mention the touches of Caravan’s David Sinclair in the psychedelic
touches while The Reason They’re Here, gives
Alan a chance for Holly to take over on lead vocals as it goes through the
sounds of mellow sound of The Doors as they sing on the creatures of the wasp. Split is a gentle and touching ballad
that Alan sings with the lyrics on dealing with what to do after a relationship
goes wrong as Buon Natale in which it
means “Merry Christmas” in Italian, is romantic with a touch of Country Folk turned mellow grooves and adding a touch of background vocal harmonies of 10cc with elements of the sound from the
Richard Thompson-sque guitar techniques to go with the flavor.

Then we go to the 17-minute
epic finale of Disposable Outcomes. It
begins with Alan doing a tribute to the late great Vivian Stanshall of Bonzo
Dog Band with a radio-like introduction on what we as the listener are about to
hear. Schnauser then goes into the Canterbury improvisation of the early ‘70s
that is a real treat with psych and jazz fusion influences that is out of this
unexpected ideas and let me say they really know their inspirations and roots
very well.

You could hear Hatfield and the North, Egg, and The Soft Machine
thrown into the mix and it is a wonderful adventure of the bass lines, mellotron,
electric piano, horn sections, and acoustic guitars that goes from frenzies
into a soothing prog-pop soaring beat and an adventure before Alan’s Stanshall
comes in for some humorous dialogue before the last 2-minutes is an ascending
ride back home for them to give it a powerful Canterbury closing.

Mark and
Vicky Powell have scored a home run for signing an amazing band that show they Schnauser carry the touches of the genres. And for me, I have listened to Protein for
Everyone about seven times now and I’m hooked into the music of Schnauser
and I can’t wait to see what they would come up with next. So if you love
Progressive-Psychedelic Pop along with the Canterbury influences as well, then Schnauser’s Protein for Everyone is right up in your
alley.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

There have been some great bands that I’ve enjoyed as we are
heading towards the end of 2014 and heading into the New Year in 2015. One of
the bands that have been going on since their formation in Detroit 27 years ago
is a group called Discipline. The band considers; Matthew Parmenter on Lead
Vocals, Keyboards and Descants, Jon Preston Bouda on Guitar, Matthew Kennedy on
Bass, and Paul Dzendzel on Skins and Percussion. I first heard Discipline’s
music on Prog Rock Deep Cuts with Ian Beabout and I was so blown away of the
music and the structures that reminded me of the theatrics and the sounds Van
Der Graaf Generator, Peter Gabriel-era of Genesis, and King Crimson.

Their third album released after their long hiatus in 2011 on
their label, Strung Out Records called, To
Shatter All Accord, is a beautiful, disturbing, and mesmerizing album. And
while this is my introduction to Discipline’s music, they have showed that they
can take it up a notch as Parmenter is following in the steps of Peter Hammill
and at times Alice Cooper as well to stay true and honest of
the sounds. The opening track, Circuitry has
the raw guitar riffs and solo, sinister organ sounds, moving piano piece, and
the interlude saxophone in the realms of David Jackson that you could tell is a
tribute to the sounds of Van Der Graaf’s music.

Then, it segues into When
the Walls are Down begins with piano and a jazzy sax coming in for a couple
of seconds as it kicks into overdrive thanks to Bouda’s guitar and Dzendzel’s
drumming as Matthew sings “You are alone here/seeing not knowing/beware
the shadows/in times of weakness.” What he’s saying to the listener is,
don’t be frightened of the voices inside your head. You have to beware of
what’s going around in times of desperate measures, you will become the fool
and there’s no one to help if the walls come down, just don’t get caught or you
will be in danger to yourself.

There is some intense rhythm from the band as Matthew’s
echoing vocals fill the hall with the swirling guitar and it fits the void and
the atmosphere like a whirling pool of terror to close it while Dead City has a simple and
straightforward vibe of the ‘80s. Then the two closing epics are the real deal
for Discipline to sink into for 13 and 24-minutes of music to really make you
buckle your seat belts to enjoy. The 13-minute When She Dreams She Dreams in Color, is a mesmerizing composition.
It begins with a jazzy and moody melody in the realms of Gnidrolog for the
first four minutes and twenty seconds as it kicks into a jam of a groove and
Matthew challenging Peter Hammill and the instrumentals open up.

The dooming guitar lines, slowed-down drums, piano,
crescendo ride cymbals, violin, and the mellotron sounds will take you into
another world in another dimension of the passages of time that is an excellent
improvisation that makes you feel you are alone and cold with nowhere to go and
it’s a sad and moody finale for the last 5-minutes that is a tribute at times
to King Crimson’s Starless and The
Beatles I Want You (She’s So Heavy). The
closing 24-minute, Rogue is where
Discipline comes as one.

I really enjoy this track because it shows Discipline
taking the darker side of progressive music into an evil territory as if they
were reading stories from H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, and Clive Barker
while listening to Peter Hammill’s solo album, The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage for inspiration. There are
some different passages whether it will be soaring, sinister, and beautiful thanks to Bouda going into a clean yet ominous approach
as Matthew’s voice and the time signatures as well to see which area the band
are going into that gives that jolt of electricity.

Amazing guitar work, organ, drums, bass, and vocalizations
makes it almost as if Discipline had done a score for one of the Italian Giallo
cinemas of the 1970s. I have listened To
Shatter All Accord about three times now and while this is my introduction
to Discipline’s music, I’m blown away of the band’s music and I can’t wait to
hear more of their music for years to come and what will they come up with
next.

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About Me

I'm a blogger/freelance writer from Houston, TX who writes album reviews because I enjoy it. Even though, I'm not the best writer, there is no stop sign for me. I have a love of Progressive Rock music, Jazz Fusion, and Early Heavy Metal music from the '60s to the early '80s. I went to HCC (Houston Community College) for nine years and have completed my degree in Music in Performance: Jazz Studies. I've been writing Progressive Rock and Symphonic Metal reviews starting back in 2008 on my blogsite and it never gets old.